By the Shore of Lake Michigan

Tomiko and Ryokuyō’s immersion in the U.S.–Japan tanka world of their time led to the selection of one of Tomiko’s poem’s to be read at the Emperor’s annual poetry celebration in 1955, then to the publication of their poetry collection.

While many second- and third-generation Japanese American voices have told the story of the wartime incarceration in fiction, essays, on stage, and in film, very little of the voluminous Japanese- language writings of this era have been translated into English. By the Shore of Lake Michigan is a rare and frank account of the tumultuous events of World War II and its aftermath, from an Issei point of view.

Nearly fifteen years in the making, the book is a collaboration between editor Nancy Matsumoto (granddaughter of Tomiko and Ryokuyō) and accomplished translators Mariko Aratani (The Ink Dark Moon) and Kyoko Miyabe. Ranging from the lyrical to the objective, the political to the deeply personal, the poems trace the Matsumotos’ passage through the darkest chapter of Japanese American history, the unconstitutional incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese descent.

Included are a foreword by Nancy Matsumoto; an introductory essay by Eri F. Yasuhara, dean emerita, California State University San Bernardino; and annotations providing historic, cultural, and literary insights into the poems.

Tanka is the oldest form of Japanese poetry, and the most beloved and widely practiced genre today. Five lines in length, with a 5-7-5-7-7 meter, it is two lines longer than the haiku format. Unlike haiku, which usually describes nature, the passing of the seasons, and the feelings they evoke, tanka can cover any topic the writer would like to address, from politics and public events to the most personal and private of feelings. It was a form ideally suited to Issei immigrants who gathered in after-work poetry salons to discuss tanka and share their poems with each other, and an important outlet for the feeling of loss, dislocation, shame, and trauma they experienced during and after their unjust World War II incarceration.

 
 

Praise

“The book is a testament to the power and importance of poetry to the lives of ordinary Japanese people.”

—Jenny Ward Angyal

 

“There is a power and poignancy to the poet’s frank portrayer of human life as she write of the various phases of her own life: how a productive life of labor began at the internment camp for this one Japanese woman possessing poise, god grace, and generosity; how she felt rather lost temporarily when the war ended; how she faced many difficulties rebuilidng her life after the war; the complex psychology behind her experience of having her beloved son drafted as an American soldier.”

—Iwao Okayama, translated from Japanese in the original 1960 Japanese publication of By the Shore of Lake Michigan

 

“It is often said that the reason the Issei [first-generation Japanese immigrants] were able to endure so many hardships in their lives was because they were doing it “for their children”—kodomo no tame ni. In the end, for Tomiko and Ryokuyō Matsumoto, too it was all about their children—their safety, security, and happiness. They endured the incarceration, Japan’s defeat, the difficulties of their new life in the unfamiliar city of Chicago, all so that their children and, eventually, grandchildren could grow and thrive in America. How fitting, then that one of their grandchildren took on the daunting task of translating their tanka, their poetic journal, so that we could get to know this Issei couple and part of their life’s journey in this country.”

—Eri F. Yasuhara, Dean Emerita, College of Arts and Letters at California State University, San Bernardino